


Guarding the Shield

by TinyFloatingPotato



Series: A Tale of Two Minds [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-23
Packaged: 2018-03-06 11:03:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3132137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyFloatingPotato/pseuds/TinyFloatingPotato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rocket, Groot, and Peter are caught by SHIELD. Now they have to deal with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Planet: Earth

Peter keeps visiting earth, unknowing someone is watching his comings and goings. Now he has Rocket and Groot with him.

Peter insisted the crew take a vacation

“Peter, why are you in a rush to get us off the ship?” Gamora says

“I just want you guys to feel safe here. We have been working for days, and I don’t want you guys to feel tired on the next mission.” Peter says as he pushes them off the Milano

“Maybe he has a secret lover and he’s ashamed of it” Drax says

“No, it’s not that! I just need to go do something by myself” Peter mutters

The crew just stares at him

“Just go, I’m ganna need as much time as possible” Peter gets back onto the Milano

Peter bought them a week’s vacation on Nova Corps’ best vacation hotspot.

Off to the side of the ship, Rocket is up to no good

“Groot,” he whispers, “C’mon, I wanna see what Peter’s secret is”

“I am Groot” meaning, “I don’t know about this, Rocket”

“C’mon, don’t be a baby” He sneaks onto the ship through an exhaust pipe for used air

Groot follows him, sliding through the vents with ease

The ship is taking off when Gamora asks,

“Where’s Rocket… or Groot”

\--

Peter is in the Milano, checking the coordinates to make sure he is going in the right direction

“So, Peter” Peter is stunned and spills his coffee, “Where are you headed to at this time?” Rocket says with a sarcastic tone

“Jesus Chri- Rocket, what the hell are you doing here?!” Peter yells

“Finding out what this secret i-,” He looks down at the spilled liquid, “Is that… coffee?”

“What, no!”

“Where did you ge- are you going back to Earth?” Rocket says

“Uh, no” Peter yells

“Where did you get coffee then?” Rocket moves forward

“How do you know what coffee is?” Peter asks as he is pinned against the a wall

“Tony was drinking it when I was there” Rocket says

“Okay, yeah, I’ve been occasionally visiting earth.” Peter admits

“How many times?” Rocket says

“A couple of hundred.” Peter mutters

“Peter! What the hell! What if you got seen by someone! I’ve seen the alien videos, they do horrible things to them!” Rocket yells

Peter stands in silence, he hasn’t been watching his tracks when he goes and comes

“Well, we’re already close; we’ll go this ONCE and leave forever, okay?”

“Okay” Peter mumbles

Groot speaks from the background, “I am Groot” meaning, “What about me?”

“Groot, what the hell are you doing here!?” Peter yells, “Is there anybody else back there?”

“Don’t worry, just us two” Rocket says

Peter gives Rocket an angry look.

\--

The Milano is approaching Earth now

“Now, they have a thick atmosphere, so you need to hold on, it’s ganna get rough” Peter says

Rocket gets into his passenger chair and groot gets into the back-middle chair

They start to enter Earth, Ship bouncing around from the entry

“HOLD ON” Peter yells

The ship shoves the three around, nearly beating up Rocket. Groot is fine, he is basically attached to the ship

They land in the middle of a large field in the United States

“Everyone good?” Peter asks

“Yeah” Rocket moans

“I am Groot” meaning, “Yeah”

“Good, now let’s go”

Peter opens the back door to leave, and he walks out. They are greeted with a crew of SHEILD agents, trucks, helicopters, and a few cars

Director Coulson steps out of one of the SUV’s with a megaphone, “Step away from the spaceship”

“Hey, look,” Peter says, “This is just for some movie I’m makin-“

Coulson walks up to Peter, “We know who you are… you’re an alien.” He turns around to the small army, “Take them to the Bus”

The men herd around the alien and raid the Milano

Peter yells to Rocket, “Rocket, don’t worry, don’t fight them!”

Rocket and Groot come out of the ship willingly with their hands cuffed 


	2. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rocket gets drunk, Groot meets Skye, and fitz thinks he's the badass of the group

The three are transported to The Bus where they are put into three different cells

Coulson walks into Peter’s cell with Peter’s gun

He puts the gun onto the table, “Now, I have millions of questions, but the number one question I have, just for you… do you need something? Water maybe?”

Peter looks confused, “Uh, my ship, friends, and freedom”

Coulson laughs, “You just named the three principles of this program. But no, I can’t give you that, I can however, give you one of these” he pulls out a bottle of water

“No thanks, I’m good”

“Okay, good. By the laws of Earth, I’m not supposed to give anything to any aliens anymore. If I did, we would lose that water forever.” Coulson says

“Look, I was just looking around. I wanted to look at Earth a few more times. I can’t remember it any more from when I was a kid.”

“You were born here?” Coulson asks

“Yeah, Peter Quill. Look me up, I went missing in 1988, look it up” Peter says

Coulson walks out, taking the gun with him, and locking the door behind him

\--

“So what happened? Is he hostile?” Skye asks from a couch on her laptop

“Look up Peter Quill, born 1980, missing 1988” Coulson walks to get a drink and drop off the gun at the bar

“Yeah, Peter Quill, Missourii, 1980. It’s all here, Social Security, Date of Birth, Missing Persons”

“Coulson, what are we dealing with here?” Phitz asks

“I don’t know” Coulson walks back to the cell area

He walks into Rocket’s cell, not knowing what to even expect

“So, we have a Mr. Rocket here?”

“It’s Rocket, Rocket Raccoon” Rocket growls

“What… nevermind. What are you doing here?”

Kicking back in his chair with his arms crossed, “We hitched a ride with Peter and ended up here”

“And where are you from?”

“Don’t worry about that, just think of me as one of those aliens that will kill you all if I don’t get a water”

“How ‘bout scotch?” He pulls out a bottle of Scotch and pours him a cup

Rocket takes a sip of the drink, “Damn this is good”

“Never had any?” Coulson asks

“Never been to Earth”

\--

Sky is being nosey and looks at the camera feed for Groot’s room

“What th-… What?”

She sneaks into Groot’s room

“Hello!” She says

“I am Groot”

“Uh, Okay. I’m Skye”

“I am Groot”

“Yeah, you said that”

“I am Groot”

“Are you just going to keep saying that?”

Groot sticks out his hand and grows a tiny flower, “I am Groot”

She takes the flower, “Thanks?”

He nods his head at her

\--

Rocket has drunk two glasses of Scotch, but with his size, he is already drunk

“You know, I don’t even want to be here. I just wanted to surprise Peter”

“Yeah? You wanna tell me where you came from?”

“A place called Nova Corps. It’s kinda like your planet, but a lot better”

“Is that so? Where is this place?”

“Even if I told you, you guys can’t go there? You would probably want to kill it or something. And believe me, you would be scared to go. Someone already tried, but he failed because of us” He slams the cup onto the table

Coulson walks out of the cell, but leaves the bottle with Rocket

When he sees the bottle still there, he yells out, “Oh and the tree over there doesn’t say anything other than ‘I’ and ‘am’ and ‘Groot’.”

Coulson walks back to the main area of the Bus and sees sky with the flower

“Where’d you get that?”

“Groot” she is dazed in the flower

“Oh yeah, it only says ‘I am Groot’”

“Yeah, I know that” She says

\--

He walks into Peter’s cell again

“So, your story checks out”

“Yeah, look at me! I look just like you” he says

“I’ve met aliens we thought were gods that look just like us. Anyways, how many times have you been to earth?”

“About ten times” He responds

“Did anyone see you? Did you talk to anyone?”

He thinks of Tony and the other Avengers, “No, nobody else”

“Good, now come with me. I need a drink”

\--

Coulson, Rocket, Groot, and Peter walk with him to meet the rest of the agents

“Agents, this is Rocket, Groot, and Peter”

Rocket is a little tipsy, stumbling in with the bottle Coulson left him

“And, guys, these are the Agents of SHIELD. Phitz, Simmons, and Skye. We have a few more, but they are not here right now”

They all greet each other

“So which one of you is the bad-ass one in the group”

Fitz raises his hand, but Simmons lowers it for him


	3. Meet and Drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rocket gets drunk, Groot "talks" to other people, and Coulson still doesn't know what's going on.

Simmons walks up to Groot, and extends her hand, “Hello, nice to meet you”

“I am Groot”

“Oh, um, oka-“

“He only says those words, but he says you too” Rocket interrupts

“Oh, okay” She says

“And what are you?” Fitz walks up to Rocket

“I can kill you in ten different ways” Rocket growls

He backs away, “Oh, good”

“Oh, hey, can I borrow someone’s, um, _phone_?” Peter asks

Skye gives him her phone

He thanks her, and walks to the cell area

 “So, Wa-What other drinks do you have?” Rocket asks

Coulson and Rocket walk to the bar area, where Coulson starts to pour Rocket a glass of almost every drink

\--

Peter is in the back, dialing the numbers to Tony Stark

“Hello?”

“Tony, than- okay, so we came back to Earth… and we were caught by SHIELD”

“Oh, okay. How’d you like that? You meet Agent?”

“Who’s Agent?”

“Agent Coulson”

“Oh, yeah. We met his entire group”

“Oh, that must have been awkward”

“Yeah, it kind of was, you know, just them trying to take in the fact they are talking to a raccoon and a tree”

“Hah, oh that’s funny. Listen, I’ll be there in a couple of hours, just hold on, and make smalltalk”

\--

Peter walks back to the main area, where Groot is “talking” to the agents and Rocket is getting hammered

“Peter, why haven’t I ever been here? The alcohol is amazing!”

Peter walks behind Rocket, “Stop this now! We are guests” He pulls out a screwdriver and short circuits a couple of wire endings. Rocket jumps from the small jolt

“Hey, what was that for?” Rocket yells

“What did you do?” Coulson asks

“I boosted his metabolism for a few minutes” He responds

Rocket’s ears go up, “Hey, you got a bathroom”

“Down the hall to the left”

Rocket runs down the hall

“Why did you do that?” Skye asks

“We are guests; we shouldn’t be getting drunk just yet” Peter says

Rocket walks back from the hall, “Screw you Peter”

“What, you shouldn’t be doing that”

Rocket walks to sit next to Groot on a couch

“So, what exactly are you two?”

“I am Groot”

“That is a lot to translate; I can’t say all of that. Anyways, I’m Rocket. I am half animal, half Cybernetics.”

Fitz looks at Coulson, “I thought Cybernetics were SHIELD?”

“I thought so too, I guess not even the Director is able to know everything”

Simmons asks Rocket, “Can I perform a few scans on you? I want to see how much of what you are”

“Uh, yeah, I guess”

“Great!”

She and Fitz walk to the lab area of the Bus, Groot follows them

“So, what do you have to drink?” Peter asks


	4. Catching Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two groups talk, Rocket is embarrassed for a minute, and Groot wants to help any way he can

Fitz, Simmons, Rocket, and Groot walk into the lab area

“Just lay on the table and I’ll start the scan” Simmons asks

Rocket mutters, “This isn’t ganna hurt or anything, right”

“No, no, it will just let us see what is going on inside of you” Fitz replies

“I am Groot”

“Yeah, why do you wanna see inside of me?” Rocket asks

Fitz responds, “Well, we are new to Cybernetics. We just want to see what kind of _upgrades_ you have. It will better our understanding of the whole technology”

Rocket lies down onto the table. The scan commences

“Oh my god. You are more enhancements than organism” Simmons says as she looks at the monitor

“Yeah, it’s like you could almost be killed by an EMP” Fitz adds

“Well, how long is this going to take?” Rocket asks

“Just a couple of minutes” Simmons says

They continue to look at the monitor

“Look, his heart is traced with metal” Simmons says

“It’s mostly metal” Fitz says

“Spine, Liver, almost every organ can live one hundred times longer than an original organ, with proper care”

“Yeah, hey, what’s that?” Fitz asks

“I think… that’s a… humanoid penis, retracted in like an animal-“

Rocket gets up, “Okay, I think we’re done here”

“NO! Just a few more moments” Simmons cries out

“No, I don’t want you to see any more” Rocket says, as he exits the room

“I am Groot” Groot places his hand onto the table, expanding it to twice its normal size

Fitz and Simmons turns back to the monitor and starts scanning again

\--

Peter, Coulson, and Skye are sitting on the couches when Rocket walks in

“Hey, Rocket!” Peter yells out

“Everything fine?” Skye asks

“I don’t want to talk about it” Rocket mutters, grabbing a liquor bottle from the bar

Peter grabs the bottle out of Rocket’s hands when he walks by him, “No no Rocket, we just got finished talking about this”

“Hey!” He sits down, “What are you guys talking about” He mutters angrily

“Just about what Nova Corpse is” Peter says

“Oh, those dicks” Rocket says

Peter whispers to Coulson, “He’s had some bad experiences with them”

“I have not!” Rocket yells

“What do you call last week then?” Peter asks

Rocket sits in silence

“Anyways, they almost got killed, and we saved them” Peter says

“Who’s _they_?” Skye asks

“The entire planet” Peter asks

Sky is shocked, “Ho- Wh-“

“A guy named Ronan, who is one hundred percent a dick”

“How did he do that? Must’ve been a massive bomb” Coulson says

Rocket chimes in, “Oh, no, it was an infinity stone. From what I’ve heard, Earth has had a couple of those here”

“Infinity Stone?” Skye asks

Peter adds, “These orbs that are part of the beginning of the universe; they have massive power over everything-“

“Time, space, souls, energy, everything” Rocket says

“How have we had those here and not even know?” Coulson asks

“Um, oh, Loki’s staff had one. And the Tesseract is one.” Rocket says

“Coulson, did you kno-“

Coulson puts his hand up, silencing Skye

“How do you know about those things?” He asks

“I told them” A voice comes from behind them

“Stark?” Coulson asks

“Yep, great entrance, huh?” 


	5. Beware of The Coulson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is on the bus, but Coulson has other plans for him. Along with May's arrival, the Bus is getting tense

“Hey, Tony” Rocket yells

Tony smiles and waves

“Tony?” Coulson asks

He replies, “Yep, in the flesh”

“Wha- Wh-“ Coulson asks before he is interrupted

“I’m here for my friends”

“ _Friends?_ ” Sky adds

“Yeah, I met them a few months ago. Rocket here is almost as smart as me, Peter is their leader, and Groot…well Groot is Groot”

Groot nods at him

“When did you meet them? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because you’re SHIELD, and last time I checked, you guys got infiltrated by HYDRA and me”

Skye asks, “You?”

“Oooh, pretend I didn’t say that” Tony says

“Woah, woah, how did-“ Coulson is interrupted

“Okay, I think that is enough talk for one day. Rocket, Peter, Groot, would you like to come with me now?”

Coulson yells, “No! They are extraterrestrial, they are under my jurisdiction!”

“And why are you treating these lives like they’re something that just fell out of the sky?” Tony yells

“Because they did fall out of the sky”

Peter adds, “You know you’re talking right in front of us”

They both yell, “Shut up!”

Tony continues, “They flew into this world on their own. Falling and flying are two different things”

“They are aliens! They are not safe” Coulson yells

Silence fills the room. Rocket, Groot, and Peter look at each other, confused

Rocket breaks the silence, “You think we’re dangerous?”

“No, I do-“

“Wait, so you were just getting to _know_ us?” Peter yells

Coulson sighs, “Okay, yes. Ever since New York, I can’t just let random beings come here and potentially cause havoc.”

Tony looks at Rocket, “I told you: You can’t trust them”

The Guardians look at each other, uncertain on what to do

Tony waives at the Guardians, “C’mon guys, let’s go”

They walk towards the back of the bus

“I can’t let you do that” Coulson pulls out his “Freezer” gun

Tony turns, “Coulson what ar-“ Coulson shoots him, knocking him unconicous

Peter yells, “Coulson what the he-“ He shoots him too

Skye cries out, “Colson?”

“They’re not safe!” Coulson yells

Rocket yells at them, “What gives?”

Coulson pulls out a real gun, grabbing Rocket in the process

He puts the gun to Rocket’s head, “Don’t do it, don’t come any closer” He tells Groot

Groot is defenseless, looking at Rocket struggle to get out of Coulson’s arms, seeing Peter and Tony lying on the floor. He looks at Skye with a disappointing face

He puts his hands down, “I am Groot” meaning, “I surrender”

Rocket stops struggling in Coulson’s arms, seeing his friend surrender made something in him stop instantly

Skye looks at Coulson, as if he has gone mad

He looks at Skye, “Get the two, I’ll take care of these two”

She waives at Fitz and Simmons to help her.

\--

Coulson takes Rocket and Groot to the same holding cell Rocket was in prior to this

“Stay in here, I’ll be back” Coulson closes the door

\--

Skye, Fitz, and Simmons are dragging the two men to another holding cell

Simmons stops dragging, “Oh, wait, I want to take a blood sample”

“Why?” Fitz asks

“I just want to see how long term living in space had on the human body” She runs back to the lab, where Melinda May is walking on board with a couple of duffel bags

Simmons sees her, “Agent May, I thought you were going to be a few more days?”

“I skipped out on the last few days, they were just review. Anything happen here?”

“Oh, uh, kinda” Simmons says, holding a test kit

May looks behind Simmons, where she sees Rocket and Groot in the holding cells. And Fitz and Skye handcuffing Tony and Peter in the cells

She looks at Simmons, “What is that?”

“Uh… we have visitors” She says nervously smiling

\--

Coulson and May are in Coulson’s old office on the bus

“Coulson, what the hell were you thinking?” May yells

“They could be dangerous” Coulson replies

“They could have a giant fleet of killers just above us, waiting for the right moment to strike”

“Better to be safe than sorry”

May stares at him in frustration, “And what about Tony? What are you going to do about him?”

“He’s was harboring aliens months ago. He is under our jurisdiction now!”

Agent May storms out of the office, slamming the door on the way out

\--

Fitz, Simmons, and Skye are in the lab, discussing what to do

“We can’t just let Coulson take these guys” Skye says

“Well, what are we supposed to do,” Fitz says, “He is our boss”

Skye yells at Simmons, “Simmons, are you just ganna ignore this?”

Jemma is dazed onto her moniter, which is showing the blood test

Skye growls, “Ugh”

Fitz continues, “Listen, we can’t go against our boss, but maybe we can help our _visitors_ out”

They look at each other with a villainous look, except Simmons, which is still focused on her tests

\--

Tony and Peter are gaining consciousness, still handcuffed

Moaning, Peter says, “Ugh, damn, he could have warned me or something”

Tony, already leaning against a wall, “Told you, can’t trust them”

“Yeah, no shit” Peter moans, “So, how do we get out of this?”

Tony laughs, “Heh, I actually had this situation already planned out”

He reaches into his pockets and pulls out four metallic bracelets, breaking them into two half pieces

“What the hell are those?” Peter asks

“Our way out” tony responds

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coulson is not a bad guy. He just doesn't want another New York on his hands.


	6. The Great Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony executes his escape plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really happy about this chapter! Don'r read the end notes, as there are spoilers in it, until you finish the chapter

Rocket and Groot are in the cell, devising an escape plan

Rocket says, going mad from anger, “Now, I can destroy the camera, making them come here. Then, when they come to check on us, you grab it and pull them in, holding them down as I punch them to death”

“I am Groot” <Why would you do that? I don’t think you’re thinking straight>

“What, of course I am!” Rocket yells

“I am Groot” <I think you should stop for a few seconds> He grabs Rocket, cradling him in his arms

Rocket pushes him away, “NO! we need to get out of here. Damn Coulson, who does he think he is just grabbing me like that?”

Groot looks at Rocket, as the realization comes to him

“I am Groot” <So, that’s what this is about. You feel helpless because you were held as a hostage?>

Rocket looks away from him, “No, it’s just, seeing you give up. That got me thinking, you could have killed all of them in a second, but you didn’t. All because I’m a helpless little raccoon”

“I am Groot” <You’re no helpless. Just the other day, you took down ten guys just for the last drink of the night>

Rocket smiles, then sighs, “Well, I hope Peter and Tony are doing fine”

\--

In Tony and Peter’s cell:

“What are those things?”

“They belong to my Mach 42 suit. But I may have built a few more, just in case something like this happens”

He hands one pair to Peter, “My friend JARVIS can signal these doors to open,” He points to the ceiling, “Then, we escape”

“I’m not sure I like this plan” Peter says

“Oh, calm down. You just don’t die, and I’ll take care of the rest. It’s pretty self-explanatory”

They both put their bracelets on. Tony puts his wrists together, and twists them, then pulls them apart

\--

JARVIS wakes up at Tony’s home, and starts a protocol called, “Saving The Aliens Really Kwik” (S.T.A.R.K for short)

All of the suits start up, getting ready to take off, along with two special suits arising out of the floor

\--

“Now, in a few seconds, that ceiling will open, just, don’t make any sudden movements. I can’t emphasize that enough.” Tony says

\--

“So what do we do now?” Skye asks Coulson

He turns to her, “Now we take them to a secure location for de-briefing, then-“

He is cut off by beeping coming from Skye’s laptop. She rushes to her laptop, then gives a faint smile.

“Coulson, you might want to take a look at this”

He rushes to here

“What the he-“

On Skye’s screen, missile like objects are speeding to the Bus. About seven of them

Coulson yells, “Deploy decoy flares”

The flares deploy, but have no affect on the UFO’s

“What are those things” Simmons asks

“I don’t know, but prepare for impact” Skye yells

They hold onto whatever they can grab, but nothing happens

“What are they doing?” Fitz asks

Skye looks out of the window, “Uh Coulson?”

“Yeah, yeah, I need to look at thi-“ He sees all of the iron men suits standing on the wings, staring directly at the agents

“What the hell?” Coulson whispers

They put their palms onto the wings, and begin to thrust down. Forcing the Agents to fly up and slam against the roof

“Agh!” They all yell

\--

Peter and Tony are against the roof of the cell, “What the hell was that?” Peter moans

“The decoy” Tony says

\--

Rocket is on the ceiling, but Groot is firmly planted on the table

“A little help?”

Groot lets go of the table, and slowly floats up to the roof. Lying on the roof, he looks at Rocket and smiles

“I am Groot” <There, now you’re not alone>

\--

“Tony, what exactly is the plan here?” Peter asks

“Wait” Tony says

The ceiling door beings to retract slowly

“Tony, Tony!?” Peter yells

“Just go limp” Tony yells at him

He gets sucked out of the roof

“TONY!” Peter yells. He whispers to himself, “Just go limp. Listen to the smart guy”

He is sucked out of the ceiling

“AHHH!” He screams, as he falls

A peace comes to Peter, as he is plummeting to his death. Wind rushing past him, like a bullet.

He thinks to himself, “Just go limp. Just go limp”

His bracelet lights up green, “What?”

He looks to Tony, also falling limp

“How does he do tha-“ He sees the suit fly to Tony, attaching to him piece by piece

“What the hell!” He sees Tony actually fly

“TONY! SAVE ME!” He yells, but tony flies back at the bus

He stays limp, when he feels a sharp pain on his arm, when he looks, he has a blue piece of armor on him

“Hah! Amazing” He looks down to see all of the parts flying at him

They begin to assemble on him, “HAHA! YEAH!” The last piece attaches, as he sees JARVIS turn on the suit

“Hello sir,” Jarvis says, “Let’s get you to a safe place” The suit takes over and shoots him towards Tony’s house

\--

Rocket and Groot are on the ceiling, as the door begins to open

“Groot?”

Groot sees the door open

“I am Groot” <HOLD ON!>

Rocket, being light weight, gets sucked out of the roof, leaving Groot alone

Coulson walks into the cell, struggling to stay on the top of the door frame

He extends his hand, “GRAB MY HAND!”

Groot takes a double take at the gaping hole, then look at Coulson, “I AM GROOT!” <NO!> He lets go and flies out of the hole

Falling, Rocket doesn’t know what to think, how his life had been?

Then he is hit by a giant red metal chunk

“TONY?” He yells

Tony grabs his wrists and puts on two smaller bracelets onto Rocket

Rocket is confused, scared, and disoriented

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really happy for Rocket Mach 42!! Now I need someone to draw Rocket in an Iron man suit!!!


	7. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys escape, but not all of them?

Rocket screams out, “Tony, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Stark doesn’t answer him, just keeps positioning the bracelets onto the fighting raccoon

“Tony!” He keeps yelling

Tony gets the bracelets onto Rocket, then pushes his wrists together, lighting up the bracelets

Stark pushes Rocket away, flying up

Rocket falls limp; his whole body goes numb from the adrenaline rushing through his body. He can hear the sound of wind whooshing by his ears, but he hears something more. He can hear jet-like propulsion from the distance.

A large blue chunk of metal slams into his wrist, “Ah! What the hell!” He screams. Another piece slams into his chest, knocking him off his original falling course

“What th-“ The pieces hit him so hard, he can’t say anything. They seem to be coming from nowhere

Finally, the face piece slams into his face, activating Jarvis, “Hello sir”

“Wha- who the hell is that?” Rocket yells

“I am Jarvis. I have been told to get you to safety” Rocket’s suit begins to propel itself straight up, but he is already too close to a small lake

The feet and hand rockets are both at full capacity, “Hold on sir, we’re not going to make it”

Rocket slams into the water, looking like a cannon ball just got shot into the water. The Raccoon emerges from the water, like a missile firing from a silo.

\--

After Tony let go of Rocket, he goes to save Groot

“Okay Jarvis, find a falling tree” Tony says

“I see a life form of nothing I’ve ever seen”

“Found him”

He thrusts the rockets to Groot

Groot is falling the same way as the other two, limp and scared

Tony slams into Groot’s body, trying to lift him

Jarvis speaks, “Sir, this object is too heavy. We won’t make it to the house”

“Dammit Jarvis, we can make it” Tony yells

Groot thinks to himself, “He can’t hold me”

Groot extends his fingers all over Tony, trying to find an entry point into the suit

Tony feels a sting on his thigh, “Ahh, what the hell was that?”

“Sir, you are injured” Jarvis speaks

“Don’t worry about me, just keep flying”

Groot unextends his hands, closes his eyes, and starts to turn into a pale brown

“Groot? Groot?” Tony gets no response

“Sir, there I seem to have lost detection of the second life form”

Tony looks down to see Groot, dead in his arms

He whispers to himself, “I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry”

He drops Groot’s dead carcass into the small lake Rocket fell into, then takes off to his house

\--

Tony lands at Stark Tower, where he finds Peter and Rocket. He lands and begins to take off his armor

Peter yells at Tony, “Hey, I thought we were going to your house!”

Rocket chimes in, “Yeah!” He looks into Tony’s eyes, “Wait, where’s Groot”

Tony puts his head down, I don’t know what happened, he just… died. In my arms, just… dead”

Peter looks down at Rocket, who just can’t process the emotions going thorough him now

Peter extends his arm to Rocket’s shoulder, “Rocket, I’m so s-“

Rocket pushes his arm away, “No, stop it Quill” He walks to the bar

Tony walks to the bar and pours Rocket a drink

“Just… Just give me the bottle” Rocket refuses to make eye contact with anybody

He hands him the bottle, which is almost half of his height. Rocket grabs the bottle with both hands and starts to drink. He drinks around half of the bottle before putting it back onto the counter top

Tony begins to walk to Peter, but feels a sharp pinch in his leg

He falls over, “Agh!”

“Tony!” Peter rushes to his side, Rocket refuses to stop looking at the liquor bottle, “What’s wrong”

“I don’t know, I just, can’t stand”

Tony takes his hands off of the pain, just to reveal a large area on his jeans soaked with blood

Peter is shocked at the sight, “Oh my god, what the hell did that?”

Tony looks at Peter and grabs Peter’s collar, “I don’t know, but something is moving”

“Moving?” Peter asks

“AHHHH” Tony yells out, “Peter, help me!” Tony lets go of his collar and falls to the ground in pain.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and you have a tree!

“What the hell do I do?” Peter shakes Tony, but he is already unconscious, “Oh, maybe Jarvis will know”

“You’re trusting a computer program with a life? Hah” Rocket says while holding the bottle tightly

Peter rushes to Rocket and grabs his arm, “Look, we’re not loosing another life, okay?”

Rocket pulls his arm away, “Don’t touch me” He growls

“You can mourn later, but now it’s time to save a life. Okay?”

Rocket doesn’t say anything, just grabs the bottle of booze and gets off the stool

He looks at Rocket, who points at Peter’s suit

“Of course!” He rushes him to the suit, which assembles around Tony

Jarvis starts up, “Tony, it appears you have something in your leg” He says

“Okay, Jarvis, this is Peter Quill, you need to disassemble the suit now so I can check him”

“Why? I can just take the piece out now” The suit makes a weird noise, while it does so, Tony screams in pain

“Okay, sir, I have extracted the object”

“Let me see it” Peter says

The hand piece opens up, and a little shard of wood falls out

Peter grabs it and holds it up, “What the hell is this?”

Rocket looks at the chip and gasps in awe

“You smart son of a bitch!” Rocket says

Rocket points to Peter, “Peter, grab me some soil!”

“How?”

“You have a suit” He grabs the wood shard from Peter

Peter assembles the suit from Tony, grabs tony, and takes off

“Take me to the nearest… hospital. Yeah, hospital” He tells Jarvis

\--

Peter lands at the hospital in a few seconds

The face piece lifts up, “He was stabbed in the leg”

He lowers the face plate and takes off again

\--

He flies back to the tower, grabbing a large handful of dirt on his way

“Rocket, I got the dirt” He holds his hands out as he lands

Rocket is near a sink, “Come here, put it here”

Peter drops the dirt in the sink, filling it almost halfway

Rocket buries the wooden shard into the dirt, and covers it. Allowing the water faucet to drip

“Okay, no we wait” Rocket says, a bright green light begins to glow from under the soil

\--

They wait a few hours, Rocket is staring at the glowing dirt the entire time, dropping some alcohol into the dirt a couple of times

“Rocket, is this normal?” Peter asks

“Yeah, why would you ask?”

“Well, this is taking a while”

“Think of it like this: You and I are made from DNA. Groot is made from a seed. He just needs time to grow. Hell, you take eight months to do what he does in a few hours”

“Oh, okay?” Peter says, awkwardly

\--

A couple of hours later, Rocket hears something

A faint _I am Groot_ comes from the dirt, “Groot? Is that you?” Rocket says

_I am Groot_

“Oh, thank god for this” He tells himself

Peter is standing a few feet away, “Hey!”

Rocket backs up, “Okay, back up. This is going to be explosive” He pulls Peter back

The faint phrase begins to grow louder as it goes on, Groot explodes out of the soil

“I AM GROOT!”

“Groot!” Rocket rushes over to him

“Heh, that wasn’t weird at all” Peter tells himself

The elevator bell rings, when it opens, a dark figure, unable to be recognized, steps out. It pulls out a small gun and fires a dart at Peter, hitting his cheek

“What the he-“ He begins to slur his speech, before falling to the ground

“I am Groot” Groot yells, <What have you done to my friend?!>

The figure looks up, it’s Nick Fury

“Relax, tree, I come in peace” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took Groots regeneration from a shard from the comics. He grows next to instantly. I just couldn't keep the story going with a baby Groot. Sorry!!


	9. Leaving Earth

Groot gets into his battle stance, eyeing Fury

Rocket stands in front of groot, holding his hands up, “Woah woah, buddy! This is an… um… friend”

“Don’t call me your _friend_ ” Fury says, “I’m only here because you guys can’t even stay away from here!”

“Hey, fury, calm down! I didn’t even want to come, but, Peter here, just can’t stay away from home!” Rocket yells

Fury scoffs, “Hah!”

Rocket, already irritated, says, “What are you even doing here, Fury?”

“I’m here because I got your ship for you to leave as soon as possible. Oh, and I saw your _meet-and-greet_ with the SHIELD team! Great job at getting yourself captured” Fury says

“How did you-“

“I have eyes and ears EVERYWHERE.” Fury says

“I am Groot” <How do you have eyes and ears everywhere? That’s not possible.>

“It’s not literal ya big tree”

“Can I finish?” Fury says, “Good. Your ship is sitting at a storage unit a few miles from here. I need you guys to leave.” He tosses a small GPS device to Rocket’s feet

“What is it with you wanting us gone? What did we ever do to you?”

“If a woman, walking down the street, saw a walking raccoon, a talking tree, and a human, that isn’t in any of our databanks, what do you think she would do?”

Rocket advances to Fury, but Groot holds him back, “who are you to call me a raccoon? You don’t even _exist_ anymore! Where are you even living?”

“That doesn’t matter! What does matter is you getting off of this planet without anyone noticing you!” Fury yells, “Where’s Tony?”

“He’s in the hospital” Rocket says

“Why is he in the hospital?”

“I don’t feel like explaining”

Fury rolls his eye, “Listen, two hours. Be gone by that time, and we won’t have any problems”

He turns around and walks into the elevator

Rocket yells, “And what if we don’t?”

“Then bad things will happen, do I make myself clear?”

“Yeah, yeah” Rocket says

The elevator bell rings, as the doors close

“I am Groot” <Are we really going to listen to him?>

“We probably should, he has helped me in my time of need last time”

Rocket walks to the sink to wash his face, only to remember the sink is broken

“Groot, grab Peter. We’re going”

Groot grabs Peter and forms a basket around him

“I am Groot” <Where too?>

Rocket grabs the GPS, “I guess here” He hits the device

The bell rings again

“I told you, we will leave now fury” Rocket yells

“What? How do you know that name?” Tony’s voice says inside the elevator

“Huh,” He turns around, “Oh, uh, I meant, that I was _furious_ at Peter, he won’t wake up”

Rocket rushes to Peter, pulling the dart from Peter’s face.

Peter wakes up instantly, “Ahh! What happened?” He yells

“You fell asleep you big idiot!” Rocket yells

“What the hell are you guys doing? How did I get to the hospital? And how is Groot still alive?” He pulls a bottle of pills from his pocket and takes a couple

“Groot, here, decided to implant a seed into your leg. He grew back, don’t worry.” Rocket says

“Don’t worry? He almost killed me! He nearly hit an artery in my leg” Tony yells

“Well, it was either _almost_ killing you, or both of you guys dying no matter what”

“I am Groot” <Ungrateful>

“Heh, yeah. It seems almost every human is now-a-days” Rocket says

“Wha- What did he say about me?” Tony says

“Don’t worry” Rocket says

“No, I want to know”

“Listen, we could go on and on, about how you can translate him yourself, but we have to go.” Rocket says

“Why do you guys have to go now?” Tony asks

“Yeah, Rocket, why do we have to now?” Peter asks

“Um, we just need to go. I don’t want to be late to… um… pick up Gamora and Drax.” Rocket says

“Oh shi- yeah. They don’t know you guys are with me” Peter jumps

“Yeah, see. We need to go” Rocket says

“I am Groot” <But we’re going because of Fury>

Rocket laughs, forcing it out of him, “HAHAHAHA. You’re funny Groot” He slaps Groot’s leg

Groot looks at Rocket funny

“And how are you guys supposed to get home?” Tony asks

“Oh, Coulson didn’t tell you? He left it at a storage place near here” Rocket says

“In the middle of the city?” Tony asks

“Listen, we need to go! Why all the questions?” Rocket yells

Peter and Groot are standing at the elevator

“We’ll be in contact!” Rocket says, pushing the button a bunch of times

“How do you expect to get out of here without being screamed at?” Tony asks

Rocket growls, “Will you take us there?”

“Hmm, well I do need to dress my wound-“

“Just take us!” Rocket yells

Tony limps back into the elevator, but glances at his sink

He points to the damage, “What happened to my sink?”

Rocket puts his hand over his face, “Just… Just don’t ask”

The doors close

\--

They go to Tony’s basement. A special floor only he has access to. Contained inside is all of his cars

Peter sees all of the cars, “Oh, I want that one” He runs over to the cars

“How are we supposed to drive on the streets guys?” Tony asks

\--

Tony is driving on the highway, Peter is in the passenger seat, Rocket is in the back lying on the floor, and Groot is strapped in the back and looks like an actual tree

A car pulls up next to them, a child in the back seat looks at Rocket.

Rocket sees the kid and hisses at him

The child starts to cry as it drives forward. Rocket laughs quietly to himself

\--

They arrive at the storage facility Rocket told Tony to drive to

“So, I guess this is it” Peter says

Rocket opens the back window to talk to Groot, “C’mon, we’re here”

Groot spreads apart, shaking off the leafs

“Thanks again, Tony. I don’t know what would have happened to us if you didn’t show up” Peter says

Peter looks back at Rocket.

“What?” Rocket says. Peter continues to stare him down, “Ugh, okay. Yeah, I guess, thanks for, you know, what you did”

Peter smiles and gets out of the car. Rocket follows him

The three walk to the storage unit, which ends up being a giant, abandoned, SHIELD warehouse, cloaked with their old technologies.

They walk through the barrier, making the image of the storage units warp a little, but quickly return back to its original image.

Tony sits for a while, making sure they make it out, when he hears a little voice behind him

“ _You have arrived at your destination_ ” He hears a woman say

“What the hell?” He turns to look into the back seat, seeing the small GPS Rocket had

“Hm? What were you up to, Rocket” He tells himself, studying the device

He hears a small rumble. As he looks up, he sees the ship rising from the cloaking shield, again, warping the picture for a couple of seconds. The ship stands still then shoots off into the sky.

He looks back down at the GPS, still studying it.


End file.
